Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-09-10
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i HISTORY OF ADVENTURE
BY FL. RIDER HAGGARD.

a great pair OF iong-handled iron pincers,
and on the other side of the fire was % sim
liar pair. Somehow / did not at all like
the appearance Of the tray and the accom-
panying pincers. There | sat and stared at
them and at the silent circle OF the force
moody faoss Of the men, and reflected that
1t was all very awful, and that we were
absolutely n he power Of this alarming
people, VINO, 10 me at any rate, were all the
more formidable because their true char
acter was still very much of IL mystery to
US. They might be better than | thought
them, or they might be worse. ] feared
that they Were worse, and | was not wrong.
1T was a curious sort of a feast, | reflected,
in appearance-indeed, an entertainment
OF the Barmecide stamp, for there was alb
solutely nothing to eat.
AT last, just as | was beginning TO feel
as though ] were being mesmerized, a
move was made. Without the slightest
warning. a man from the other side Of the
circle called ont in a loud voice:
"Where is the flesh that we shall eatp"
Thereupon everybody in the circle an
swered in IA deep measured tone, and
stretching out the right arm toward the
fire as they spoke:
"The flesh will Gomez
els it a goat?" said the same man.
at is Il goat without horns, and more
than a goat, and we shall Stay it, they an
swered with one voice, and turning half
round. they one and all grasped the han
dies of their spears with the right hand,
end then simultaneously let them 90.
"is it an ox?" said the man again.
at is an OK without horns, II more
than an OK, and we shall Stay it," was the
answer, and again the spears were grasped,
and again let 20.
Then came a pause, and / noticed, with
horror and a rising of the hair, that the
woman next TO Niahomed began to fondle
him, patting his cheeks, and calling him
by names of cndcarment. while her fierce
eyes played up and down his trembling
form. ! don't know why the sight fright
ened me 50, but ii did brighten us all dread
fully, especially Leo. The cartssing was
SO snake-like, and SO evidently a part of
some CHASTITY formula that had to be gone
through. (We afterward learned that its
object was 10 pretend 70 the victim that he
was the object OF love and admiration, and
so TO sootbe his injured feelings, and cause
him To- expire in a happy and contented
frame OF mind) / saw Mahomed turn
white under his brown skin, sicEly white
with fear.
'Is the meat ready to be cooked?' asked
the voice, more rapidly.
1T is ready; il Is ready"
SIS the pc, hot to cook it?' it continued,
in a sort OF scream that echoed painfully
down the great reccsscs of the cave.
1T is hot; it is hot"
"Great hcaycas.'' roared Leo, ''remem-
Der the writing, The people who put
pots upon The heads of strangers"
rs he sail the words, before we could
bi~. or even tako the matter in. two great
rufil2nsl lmped up, and Selling the long
pin1ers, plunged them into the heart Of the
fire, and The woman who had been carcss-
ing Mahomed suddenly produced a fiber
moose from under her girdle, or moocha,
and slipping it over his shoulders, ran it
tight, while the men next him seized him
by the legs. The two men with the pin
GERS gave Il hcave, and scattering the fire
this way and that upon the rocky floor,
lifted from it a large earthenware pot,
heated to a white heat. In an instant, al
most, with n single movement, they had
reached the spot where Mahomed was
struggling. He foughtlike a fiend, shrek
ing in the abandonment OF his despair, and
Notwithstanding the moose round him, n
the efforts OF the men who held his legs,
the advancing wretches were for the mo-
ment unable to accomplish their purpose,
which, horrible and incredible rs it seems,
was to put the red-hot pot upon his head.
/ sprung to my feet with a yell of horror,
n drawing my revolver, fired it by a sort
of instinct straight at the diabolical woman
who had been caressing Mahomed, and
was now gripping him in her arms. The
bullet struck her in the back and killed
her, and TO this day | am glad that it did,
Tor, Gs 1t afterward TRANSFERRED, she had
awaited herself Of the anthropophagous
customs Of the Amahagger to organize the
hole thing in revenge of the slight put
upon her by Job. She fell dead, Il as
she did SO, TO my terror and dismay, Ma
homed, by a s~uperhuman effort, burst
from his tormentors, and Springlng hlg
in the air, fell dying upon her corpse. The
heavy bullet from my pistol had driven
through the bodies Of both at once, strik-
ing down the murdcress, and saving her
victim from a death a hundred times more
horrible. 1t was an awful and yet d most
merciful accident.
For a moment there was a silence of as
constituent. They had never heard the
TeIDIb OF n Hfp~ilfIll ielcre, anu us tilttbs
dismayed them. But the next a man close
so us recovered himself, and seized his
spear preparatory to making a lunge with
il at Leo, who was the nearest TO him.
"Run for it:''I halloed, setting the exam
pie by going up the cave as hard as my
legs would carry me-. ] would have bolted
for the open air if it had been possible, but
there were men in the way, and besides, |
had caught sight OF the forms Of a crowd
of people standing out clear against the
skyline beyond the entrance to the cave.
Up the cave ! went, and after me came
the others, and after them Numbered the
whole crowd of cannibals, mad with fury
at the death Of the woman. With n bound
/ cleared the PROSTATE form of Mahomed.
As l flew over hin l felt the heat from the
red-hot pot, which was lying close by,
strike upon my legs, and by it's glow saw
his hands-for he was not quite dead-still
feebly moving. At the top Of the cave was
a little platform Of rock three feet or so
high by about eight deep, on which two
large lamps were placed at night. Wheth-
er this platform had been left rs a seat. or
rs a raised point afterward to be cut away
when it had served its purpose rs a stand
ing-piace from which to carry on the ex-
cavations, l do not know-at least l did
not then. At any rate, we all three
raacbad IL and iumpiuy on IL nreparad IN